Enter: New York

Phew. Ok, sorry for the couple missing days of posts, but I’ve been busy getting back on track. Two days ago I crossed into New York early, and biked 80 miles. Yesterday I begrudgingly biked into 20 mph winds for another 65 miles. So now, I’m in Utica. While here I had to take a rest day to fix up my bike, which had a spoke break on the rear wheel at the end of my last ride.

I have a spoke replacement tool, a “fiberfix”, but I didn’t have to ride on it, as in the process of installing it, I mistakenly removed my chain the incorrect way, necessitating a new one. The upshot is that I made many mistakes, but I made them at the right time, when I’m still in the phase of my journey where it’s safe to experiment and fail! So I took the wheels to a bike shop on Utica and got them trued up a bit better than I could do myself and bought a new chain, which I will make sure not to remove incorrectly next time. The upside to the hassle is that it’s an excuse for this rest day, and it tought me a good amount.

Anyways, here are some thoughts from my last two days in New York!

Between myself and the state border was one last hill in the berkshire/taconic mountain regions, and I got up it without too much trouble. At the top were some rest stops with great views of the New York countryside.

screenshot New York! Was nice going downhill into this.

screenshot Obligatory welcome to new York sign.

After rolling down into the valley, I found myself in a region of small rolling hills with nice roads and farms or forests on either side of me. New York state Route 5A is pretty bike-friendly as far as shoulder width is concerned, and has occasional signs indicating that it is a bike route, which is always nice confirmation that you’re likely on the right road.

I passed through Troy, which was an interesting city, and felt like it could almost be a Boston suburb. Since I had far to go this day I didn’t stop.

screenshot Troy

I then hit the start of the Erie Canal Bike Trail, which follows the Erie Canal and Mohawk River on paved and some dust roads hundreds of miles from Buffalo to Troy. Cool! Though, as I find out yesterday, the some dust sections are just best avoided, since they can be bumpy and slow going.

screenshot The Mohawk River

screenshot The Erie Canal Bike Trail. The paved sections were nice, but they’re only mostly in the East.

It was the second half of this day when I made my first mistake of my trip. I used a shoddy bike rack quickly to hop into a Burger King to grab water, as it has been a long day already and I didn’t start at full capacity for weight reasons. I saw my bike had fallen over in the rack, which has twisted the front wheel just a few millimeters, causing the slightest of wobbles. It was still ok to ride on though, and I finished up the day, narrowly beating out the rain, and sleepy at an awesomely convenient motel in Amsterdam NY after truing my wheel to about 95% perfect. Phew.

The next morning was windy, with 20 mph winds coming from the West. This, coupled with the rain later in the day, my sore legs from the 80 miles the day before, the heavy use of some dust trails, and my rear spoke breaking right before the day was over meant that I’ll just do my best to forget about this day. And thus, I won’t give you a play by play. It was pretty uneventful apart from the things I just mentioned.

screenshot One of the few pictures from the day, which features the trail, a highway, and train tracks all in one, in that order from left to right.

screenshot Pigs.

screenshot Another sorta cool one, with an historic building.

Here’s hoping that my shorter trip to East Syracuse tomorrow is without any problems! It will be good to get back on track. Until then!